The Silver Linings
by nemesisqueen
Summary: She was supposed to hate everything he represented, instead she fell for him. His destruction never felt sweeter, so he let her nearer than anyone else. Now, he will never let her go. Story about his lies, deception and darkness that contrast with the beauty, love and forgiveness she is offering to him. Which side will prevail? Tom/Hermione


Hey everyone! This is my first TIME TRAVEL STORY featuring the TOMIONE pairing! I am sorry for any grammar mistakes, since English isn't my native language. I really hope you will like it and leave a short review, since it only takes a few seconds for you to write it and means a whole world to the writers! *reviews make me all fluffy and mushy inside*

The beginnings are a bit angsty and sad, but the story itself will be a Romance with a lot of Drama and Humor! Anyways, enjoy the story. 3

* * *

**THE SILVER LININGS by nemesisqueen**

**Chapter 1: Of Death and Survival**

**May 3****rd**** 1998, Hogwarts**

* * *

For some strange reason it was always hardest to forgive people you love. This was probably because we always have the highest expectations for the ones we care about. We are blinded by our emotions so much that we believe they can do no wrong. But, the truth that we never want to admit is that we are all people, and people make stupid mistakes which can sometimes hurt other people. Stupid mistakes were just human nature, weren't they?

_Damn it._

The pain shot through my whole body in a familiar pattern, burning my nerve endings, setting my whole body on fire. I screamed in pain on the inside, but didn't even visibly move. There was just no strength left in me to do so. I was going to die and I couldn't do much about it, either. What was the point in surviving, anyway? I didn't even want to open my eyes and face the cruel reality. My friends' bodies were scattered around me and the stench of burning flesh told me that some of them were lucky enough to be dead. Others were probably in a situation similar to mine, hoping that the end will come to them before the Death Eaters do.

I could absently feel the slippery wood of my wand in my hand, but I couldn't see the point in lifting it or trying anything. Perhaps I ought to give those bastards a final nasty surprise and bring down a few more of them before I die? But the darkness seemed so inviting and I was just so tired. I wanted the pain – both physical and emotional – to go away before the adrenaline disappears from my body and leaves me to rip myself into pieces. I could feel the pulsating desire to live inside of me, but it was just too weak, too bruised for me to actually take it seriously.

Pulling the last strings of strength and will I had, I opened my eyes and looked to the dark night sky. I couldn't hear anything, but I felt a tear that glided down my cheek. It was done, everything that we could've done we did, and it still wasn't enough. Everything was done, along with me. Through the pain that clouded my mind I tried to remember what happened before I was thrown so mercilessly on the ground and left to await my impending death. It came to me in flashes, pieces of memories that looked like something out of a dream – or a nightmare, more probably. And I couldn't contain more tears that spilled down my cheeks.

Lavander was gone in the first few minutes. Ginny was tortured to death until the very end. Fred and George were both dead, burned to ashes in seconds. Sweet, sweet Luna was killed too. And dear Neville was no longer breathing either, but he valiantly fought until the end, alongside Harry and Ron-

Ron… He was dead too. He was gone because of me. I was perfectly aware that the Killing Curse fired from the wand of Bellatrix Lestrange was intended for me, not for him. I saw the green flash and I saw his glassy, dead eyes staring at me. It was my fault and now he was dead, and it was me who was supposed to be in his place. How dare he die instead of me? How dare he leave me alone here without anyone?

_I'm afraid._

Harry's gone too. The two of them left me alone. They all left me completely alone, in the cold, suffocating in the smell of their blood and their burnt flesh. Why wouldn't they just let me die too and go into the warm darkness? A silent sob shook my body slightly and made me acutely aware of the bruises, the cuts, all the broken bones and curses that hit me. I could feel them all at once and it hurt. It hurt almost as much as the fact that I am completely alone.

This is the moment when I, seemingly unbreakable Hermione Granger who spent her whole life proving a point that she was just as good, just as smart and just as powerful as everyone else, felt like she was finally breaking. I couldn't do this anymore.

_I couldn't just give up, could I?_

It would actually be so easy. Taking my wand and pointing it towards me while uttering the two unforgivable words. I was sure I could do it, I watched others do it so many times, I knew the technique and the pronunciation perfectly. I would be gone in a second, nobody left to avenge any of us, nobody bothering to fight against the Dark Lord and his followers. It was the easy way out, just disappearing and leaving the world to mend itself. But I couldn't do it. I felt a certain responsibility, like I owed something to those who were dead.

Lavander. Ginny. Fred. George. Luna. Neville. Ron. Harry. So many others beside them were gone, the older members of the Order. McGonagall. Molly. Arthur. Sirius. Tonks. Lupin.

_It wouldn't be fair to them to give up._

I blinked a few times, trying to clear my blurry vision. I readjusted the grip on my wand slowly. It was embellished with my own blood and very slippery under my cold fingers. When did the temperature get so freezing? It was probably due to my drastic loss of blood.

It was so hard to pull myself up in a sitting position, that by the end of this excruciating task, my eyes were once more laced with tears and my teeth were grit together. I avoided looking around me, in fear that I will see a familiar face, so my head was immediately turned towards the large doors of Hogwarts. The building I used to call home for the last six, almost seven years was in ruins, and it made my chest ache a bit more. It felt like losing another beloved person all over again.

There were no Death Eaters in the nearby I could see. Certainly there were some of them left around the place to safeguard the perimeter, but the others were far away already. They were probably off, celebrating their victory over the Order and winning Hogwarts or at least what was left of it. It was just a trophy for them, nothing more than a proof for the Dark Lord that he did what no other had ever managed before him. I felt my heart pumping a bit faster in anger, and it felt good, as if I found some of the strength I lost.

As I slowly got up to my feet, it became painfully obvious where the critical points on my body were. I had a large, although not too deep, wound over my abdomen. My right arm was full of scratches and bruises and my left just felt numb, so I suspected it was broken. There was a suspicious looking, deep gash on my thigh, reaching from my hip bone to my knee. It was the one I ought to pay most of my attention to. Still, it was excruciatingly painful to walk and it was a slow endeavor. The more I moved towards the broken door, the more wounds and broken bones I discovered along my body.

Finally, I made myself look at every single face of the student, teacher, member of the Order and _friend. _I needed to remember who I was doing this for, lest I forget and let myself slip after them into the warm darkness. It was now further away from me, but I could still feel it nagging me at the back of my mind.

I refused to cry, or stop walking, although I wanted to. I wanted to hug Ron and Harry, pretend they were still alive. I wanted to fall on my knees next to their corpses and mourn them for days. I wanted to bury each and single one of them, mark their graves and leave beautiful flowers over them. See how life gets reborn from death. But I didn't have the time to do so, so I just had to remember their faces until I can write them all down and prevent them from being forgotten. I couldn't allow myself to forget them.

Limping through the ruined doors, I could hear faint voices. The Death Eaters were still here. My wand was readied at my hand, but even I knew it would be suicide to try and face them in my state. What I needed to do was get to the Headmaster's office and get the books of Order's plans for future defenses and then I needed to find a safe enough place to hide. There were several places I could hide, but the Room of Requirement felt like the safest place I could choose. Then, I will sit down and make plans for an attack. Since I was the only person left, it won't be as much as attack as a suicide mission in which I intended to take down as much of these bastards as I could.

Casting a silencing charm on myself, I passed through the main hall. The stairway was ruined, full of dust and crumbling under my feet, but I easily slipped by two Death Eaters and continued towards the Headmaster's office. The familiar gargoyle greeted me soon, and against everything that was happening I still managed to smile slightly. It was good to see that I was still able to do that.

"Chocolate Frogs," I said crisply as the familiar spiral staircase opened towards me. I looked around, hoping nobody saw or heard me and continued up.

Headmaster's office was the same as always, and because of this it felt strangely isolated from everything else that was happening outside its walls. Still, it made me much more comfortable being here than on the open. It felt familiar and safe.

I opened the drawers, the whole table, the books that were scattered all over the place until I found the plans. They were written in a simple red leather bound book (in Gryffindor spirits, just as expected). I put it in my beaded bag along with some other books that seemed useful. Feeling ready to leave, I yanked the last drawer in the table and frowned at its contents. There was an envelope and a simple golden time-turner. I found myself in a dilemma. They weren't mine to take, but there was no name on the envelope and it seemed like a waste to leave a time-turner just lying around. I took them both on instinct, hoping that the two would be useful later on, and pushing away my guilt about reading the letter. I knew I was going to do it as soon as I get to the Room of Requirement.

Getting to the seventh floor wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Most of the Death Eaters were in the lower parts, probably going through the rubble and searching for anything important they could use. Because of this, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the library before going to the Room of Requirement and taking a few books. Few, being forty-three. It was better for me to take them then to be left here to rot, or worse get burned by those savage bastards. No, I don't think _he _would allow it, would he? According to everything, he valued knowledge, and books were knowledge.

As I walked through the long hallway I focused all of my willpower to the Room. I won't be able to walk around for much longer, not with my wounds and not with the amount of blood I already lost.

_I need a safe place._

_I need to survive._

_I need to avenge them._

_I need to change everything that happened._

Thankfully, the door appeared in front of me not too long after. Pushing the large door I let the familiar environment of the Gryffindor Common Room overcome my senses. I let out a tired sigh and lowered myself onto the large sofa in front of the warm fire. I was safe, or at least as safe as I would be until I die. I emptied my beaded bag and decided to first take care of my physical state.

I entered the bathroom and peeled the dirty, bloodied clothes off of me. It hurt more than I expected it to. I gently cleaned the scratches and open wounds with a towel, healing them with spells and salves I had in my bag along the way. My whole body was quite the gruesome picture, colored by bruises in all colors and my blood. I tried to ignore the fact that most of those deep, red gashes were going to leave pale scars behind them. After that, I wrapped them gently in white bandages and hoped for the best. A quick bath took care of the rest of the dirt and blood, tangled over my face and in my hair.

There wasn't much I could do after that, beside falling onto the sofa and staring up to the ceiling. The warm fire was crackling and it made me feel like I was home, safe and sound, and that at any given moment Ron and Harry were going to get down the stairs and start their incessant chattering about Quidditch. Then, I was would tell them how ridiculous Quidditch is and how they should really pay more attention to their grades. Then Ron would say something hilariously idiotic and we would all laugh, he would laugh too once he realizes his mistake. But, there was no one coming down the stairs tonight, no Quidditch talks or NEWTs discussion. There was just me and the silence.

Two hours later I still wasn't tired, but I couldn't make myself stand up from the sofa. In my hands I twirled the time-turner and the letter I found in the last drawer. The red leather book about the Order's plans was lying open next to me. It felt wrong invading someone's privacy like this, but what if the letter hid some important information? I couldn't just leave it unopened, could I? I put the time-turner around my neck, like I used to wear it in my early years at Hogwarts and started opening the envelope. I unfolded the letter and started reading its contents:

_Dumbledore,_

_This Time-Turner I found is not to be trifled with. It is a big responsibility, but I wouldn't trust anyone else with it. What it does, the way it corrupts people's desires is dangerous and I've seen it firsthand. It needs to be contained. Keep a close watch over it until the time comes, my friend._

_-A.P._

I reread the letter once, twice, three more times, trying to discern what this _A.P._ was trying to say. I took the golden time-turner in my hands. It was warm, buzzing with magic, but I couldn't feel anything Dark coming off of it. In fact, it even felt nice and welcoming, just like light magic is supposed to feel. Rolling it in my hands, I could only notice the wonderful craftsmanship of glass and gold and the only discernible mark was a tiny letter _P_.

I yawned and decided to try and solve this mystery tomorrow morning, if I survive that long. I put the letter onto the floor but left the time-turner around my neck. Its presence was strangely calming and I honestly welcomed it. I turned to the side and closed my eyes. I fell asleep with one thought: I needed to change this, it was my duty to turn everything around.

Images of their deaths followed me even in my sleep. Lavender's beautiful face was contorted by her fear when a fiery curse hit her. She was gone in an explosion. I could see Ron being hit by the Killing Curse that was meant for me. I could see his gaze that was blaming me for his death. Ginny, she was tortured longer than anyone before. For hours her screams filled our ears while we fought. Until, exactly nine hours later the screaming stopped. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. She was finally released from the curse and death seemed preferable to that. Luna's white hair was full of bloodied red streaks. So many slicing hexes were fired her way that it was hard to recognize her tiny body anymore. Fred and George, they were just engulfed in flames, nothing was left of them, but I still vividly remember their last scream. Neville fought alongside Harry until the very end, until the Dark Lord finished them both. I was the only one left, and I saw every single one of them fall, until finally I thought I were to join them when a curse hit me and ripped through the tissue of my stomach. I was lulled into darkness, I was safe from everything in death. But, I had to open my eyes and once I did, two crimson eyes were staring at me.

I screamed.

And I woke up.

* * *

"Dammit," I almost yelled, although my throat was dry and hurt.

The Room of Requirement still looked just like the Gryffindor Commons. The fire was still burning brightly, but I felt unusually cold. There was a distinct feeling in my gut that something was wrong. I lowered my head down to see blood stains over my shirt. My wounds must've opened while I was sleeping. I rose up from the sofa and took off the simple blue t-shirt. The problem seemed to be much more complex.

The Time-Turner. It freaking broke.

The skin across my abdomen was etched with small pieces of glass. With an _Accio _spell I took them out and winced. They caused much more pain than my tired muscles, nasty bruises and other wounds on my body did. After everything I read last night, about how dangerous apparently the time-turner was I managed to do this.

_Brightest witch of the century, my arse. _

After cleaning up the mess I've made, I re-bandaged all of my wounds, pretty satisfied with their progress and put the remains of the time-turner in the envelope along with the letter. I put the envelope along with the red leather Order book in the beaded bag.

I needed to make my way towards the kitchens and take some food for the next few days, or weeks. Hogwarts was supposed to have good supplies, that is if the Death Eaters haven't already emptied them. In that case I was in a bit of a problem, seeing that according to the rules of magic, there was no possible way for me to conjure food. This was one of those times when I really could've used the Marauder's Map. Who knows where it ended up after everything?

Once I was ready, I opened the door to the seventh floor slowly and glanced over the corridor. It was empty. But, going all the way from the seventh floor to the kitchens corridor beneath the Hufflepuff Commons was a long way. This is why I needed my wand ready at any moment. Slipping through the place, it felt strange seeing how much of the castle seemed completely untouched by the battle. Almost isolated to everything that happened.

Upon reaching the corner of the castle I needed to pass safely in order to get into the kitchens. I peeked to the side, praying for the best. There wasn't anyone I could see, so my body immediately relaxed a notch. That was, until I heard gentle footsteps and a voice I could recognize anytime, anywhere.

"It seems I am not alone in my craving for sweets in the mornings," his eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles "Though I find it strange to see a student whole two days before the beginning of the school year."

I turned my head towards him and gaped for a few silent seconds.

It only seemed appropriate for me to faint at that moment. So I did.


End file.
